The present invention relates to an auxiliary seat for an automotive vehicle, and more particularly to an auxiliary jump seat hinge mounting assembly which rotatably mounts a seat cushion unit on a vertical body wall structure for pivotal movement between folded and in-use captured positions.
It is well known in the prior art to provide foldable auxiliary or jump seats for use in vehicles. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,828 to Groce et al. discloses a side mounted jump seat for use with vehicles, such as pickup trucks, having extended cabs providing cargo space rearwardly of the front seat. In the Groce patent the seat assembly is supported in a cantilever manner when moved to its seating position and is swingable about a skewed axis away from the rear of the cab when moved to its seating position. The Groce seat assembly includes an overcenter spring which biasingly holds the seat in either a storage or seating position. One disadvantage of the Groce design is that it requires a large number of parts including a frame which must be secured to the vehicle floor structure.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,037 to Maruyama et al. discloses a pickup truck auxiliary seat assembly which is foldably installed at the rear or lateral portion of the cab. The Maruyama auxiliary seat is mounted on a base which is installed on the cab floor so that when the seat cushion is turned to its upright position, the cushion upper surface is directed frontward of the seat assembly. Thus, the Maruyama assembly, like the above Groce patent, has the disadvantage of requiring a floor mounted support.